Crossbreeding of rabbits of different breeds: species, choice of breed, features

Rabbits are a very popular type of farm animals among domestic owners of household plots. Such animals grow and breed simply swiftly. At the same time, their meat is distinguished by a number of valuable qualities. For example, it does not contain cholesterol, and therefore can be classified as dietary products.

Why cross different breeds

With a huge number of advantages, rabbits, unfortunately, have one rather serious drawback. The health of these animals is much weaker than that of many other farm animals. This is especially true for thoroughbred rabbits. It is often very difficult to care for such animals, and the mortality rate in a herd can be large.

In order to improve the livestock due to the most healthy offspring, some farmers use a procedure such as crossing rabbits of different breeds. Thus, it is possible to bring out stronger, resistant to various diseases of the half-breeds. In addition, when crossing representatives of different breeds, indicators in terms of farm productivity are sometimes improved. Often, such young animals gain weight faster and grow larger.

Using Soviet Chinchilla

Of course, breeding half-breeds on a rabbit farm must be done correctly. First of all, this concerns the selection of parent breeds. If this issue is not paid maximum attention, instead of strong offspring, you can get even more whimsical and frail than parents. So what kind of rabbits can be crossed among themselves?

Very often, farmers use Soviet chinchilla to improve the quality of the herd. Such rabbits do not grow as large as representatives of many modern breeds. However, they have one important advantage over most varieties of animals bred on farms today - endurance and unpretentiousness.

It is believed that males of the Soviet chinchilla can be used to obtain healthy productive crossbreeds from the following breeds of rabbits:

• white giant;
• New Zealand.

At the same time, females of this breed can be crossed with males:

• Viennese blue breed;
• New Zealand.

The crossbreeding of rabbits of different breeds at home is carried out according to standard technology. That is, the female with estrus is simply planted in a cage to the male, and after two weeks they make a control mating.

What other breeds can be crossed

In addition to the Soviet chinchilla, farmers often use males of the white giant and Viennese blue to improve the quality of the livestock. Such animals are allowed to cross with females of the New Zealand breed. Crossbreeding with California rabbits is also permitted for the white giant and Viennese blue.

Which breed is best for a beginner?

Unfortunately, rabbit breeding is rather complicated. Failure in the breeding of such animals suffer many farmers. Diseases of rabbits are very numerous, in most cases they are infectious and spread in the flock with lightning speed. An attack on the farms of this specialization in epidemics can be simply colossal.

Therefore, experienced farmers, in order not to be disappointed, advise beginners to first test their strength in breeding outbred rabbits. Such animals are not particularly productive. But in relation to diseases, they are usually not as frail as thoroughbred.

Having gained experience, in the future it will be possible to improve the livestock by absorbing crossbreeding of rabbit breeds. In the future, such work on the farm will simply need to be re-carried out approximately every 3-4 years.

What is absorption crossbreeding: technology description

In this case, to replenish the herd, several rabbits of some productive popular breed are acquired. Then they are crossed with females from the herd according to the scheme below.

That is, the absorption cross of rabbits looks as follows:

• 1 litters - half breeds;
• 2 litters - ¾ thoroughbred blood;
• 3-7 / 8;
• 4-15/16;
• 5 - 31/32.

At the final stage, rabbits begin to breed already "in themselves."

What are the benefits of absorption crossbreeding?

Performance on a farm with outbred rabbits using this technology can grow significantly. It is believed that the method of absorption crossing allows you to:

• increase by the end of the fattening body weight of animals by 30-40%;
• significantly increase the stamina of rabbits;
• reduce feed intake;
• increase the multiplicity of rabbits;
• reduce puberty.

Having preserved their endurance and health, rabbits on the farm after such work become more productive and acquire the pedigree qualities of those males that were purchased at the first stage.

Who to choose for improvement

Thus, for the absorptive crossing, the farmer will first need to purchase several thoroughbred rabbits. But which animals are best suited for this? In most cases, farmers choose white and gray giants to improve herd productivity. The offspring from such rabbits in outbred females is born very strong and quite large.

It is also believed that flanders are very good for improving the herd on the farm. Crossing rabbits for meat (to obtain subsequently a large number of it) is often carried out using rex.

That is, large breed rabbits are best suited for crossbreeding. In the herd itself, of course, you need to choose the most healthy queens. In this case, of course, only the largest females are suitable for this purpose. For further crossbreeding from half-blood litters, of course, you also need to choose the strongest, most active and healthy individuals.

Buying manufacturers

Crossbreeding of rabbits of different breeds should be carried out in accordance with all the rules. First of all, the farmer needs to try to choose good producers. When purchasing thoroughbred rabbits, among other things, you need to pay attention to their appearance. The legs and backside of such animals, for example, should be strong enough. Of course, only healthy males with good pedigree qualities should choose for herd improvement. You need to buy these animals in disease-free farms that have a good reputation. Rabbits from the market are likely to infect the entire herd, and the farmer will suffer heavy losses.

What else you need to know

When improving the herd using new blood or breeding “in oneself,” the farmer should follow a few more important rules. So, it is believed that as manufacturers can not be used:

• rabbits older than 3-5 years;
• rabbits who at least once ate their litter;
• rabbits who have had a miscarriage at least once;
• rabbits over 3 years old.

It is best to choose female rabbits for crossbreeding with the widest possible ass. At the same time, dairy rabbits need to be rejected. In such animals, cubs slowly gain weight after okroli.

Types of Crossing: Industrial

On large farms, conceived use a special method of crossing rabbits, achieving the effect of heterosis. In this case, in the end, hybrid animals are obtained that are significantly superior to their parents in terms of developmental speed and weight, but are not able to give good offspring.

Such a technique is used mainly only on large farms. In order to be able to obtain hybrids, the farm must specialize in the cultivation of rhinestones of two or more breeds. Also on such a farm, a separate fattening workshop for the hybrids themselves is equipped.

This crossing is called industrial. On large farms, two schemes of similar breeding can be used in this case:

• simple - when using 2 breeds;
• difficult - with rabbits of 3 breeds.

In most cases, the hybridization scheme in large farms uses the following:

• the first crossing of rabbits is made between a male and a female of two any breeds;
• a female hybrid of the first generation is crossed with a male of one of the original breeds (of course, not related);
• rabbits born from her are crossed with a male of a different breed.

Next, the process is simply repeated.

The best breeds for hybridization

Different breeds of rabbits are crossed on large farms using the heterosis technique. In the table below you can see which animals are best suited for mixing with the effect of heterosis.

The result of crossing the rabbit breeds listed in the table is often simply impressive.

Inbreeding

The closely related mating of animals on a small farm is considered unacceptable. Crossing rabbits of different breeds for meat (both to improve its quality and to increase the number) in most cases is successful. It is likely that even a novice farmer will be able to improve the livestock in this way. The only thing is that an entrepreneur of this specialization should try to avoid inbreeding. Bunnies and rabbits for crossbreeding should be taken from different litters from parents far removed in terms of kinship.

In small farms, inbreeding is a very dangerous phenomenon. Its negative consequences are:

• slow development of rabbits;
• soreness of the offspring;
• inability to reproduce.

An interesting fact is that it was with the help of inbreeding that some of the currently popular rabbit breeds were bred, for example, the same white giant. However, it is unlikely that a farmer will be able to get a new breed in a small farm and in the absence of certain knowledge and skills from a farmer. He will cause irreparable harm to his flock. It is believed that it is necessary to change producers on the farm at least once every 3-4 years. In this case, new rabbits for reproduction should be bought on the side.

Reproductive Crossing

This technique is mainly used only in breeding farms. With its use on experimental farms, new breeds of rabbits are bred. In this case, very complex technologies are used to solve the tasks. Crossbreeding of rabbits on such farms is carried out in stages with verification of each intermediate result.

In this way, for example, in the last century the first Soviet chinchilla was born. The ancestors of these very popular rabbits in our country are French chinchilla and white giant.

Crosses for obtaining a new variety are still usually several breeds at once. In some cases, this technique can also be used to adapt foreign rabbits in Russia. White giants, for example, there are two varieties - Belgian and domestic. The latter were obtained by adapting to the harsh Russian climate through the "rush" of blood of gray giants and chinchillas.